박세당 편지 번역
목차
Letter to his son by Pak Se-dang 朴世堂 (寄子泰輔)
Student 1
To my son Tae-bo[1]
Your last letter was a relief for me, but now I am writing you in hard mood. The food is not enough and I am not sure that I could find something to eat for tomorrow. I plucked some still non-ripe cherries and sent it to the market, but I don’t know how much rice could get for it. Uh! Yesterday it was earthquake I have never seen before. I heard traveler saying that in the city the fortress and many houses are destroyed, indeed. Poor taegan Yun (尹大諫|윤대간)[2]! All his life he suffered hardship and I can’t hold my sigh. Real disaster! Nobody thought that it could happen, so everyone was just greedy for the pleasures in front of their eyes. If this is the will of Heaven, what can we do? We can’t know where will be the end of all this!
1 This letter is from Paek Kwang-hun (白光勳|백광훈) to his son Hyong-nam (亨南|형남): Collected works of Okpong Paek Kwang-hun (白光勳, 玉峯別集).
2 Taegan is probably a title, but it is not clear who is the mentioned person.
Student 2
Your letter calmed me. I'm doing fine. But I have a lack of food, and I'm not sure if I will have some for tomorrow. I picked about a du of half green cherry and send it to the market, but I do n't know how much sung of rice I can get for it. Sigh. There was an earthquake yesterday, I have never seen it before. I heard one traveler said that in the castle-city the fences fell down and the houses were ruined, can it be true? Speaking about the case of taegan Yun, he suffered all his life, so I can’t help sighing. This is real disaster, nobody can predict it, all people want is to see the pleasant things in front of their eyes. This is the [will of] Heaven, what can we do with it? We can't even suppose where the repercussions will show themselves.
Student 3
寄子泰輔(朴世堂, 西溪先生集 卷17)
昨書爲慰, 此中僅遣, 而糧道見乏. 明日之飡, 又難得繼。 Yesterday’s letter was a comfort. In the midst of this I barely make it and the provisions seem to be short. Again I will hardly be able to tie together tomorrow’s meal.
摘得半靑櫻桃斗餘送市, 不知換幾升米。嘆咄。 Plucking up by hand I managed to get more than a peck of half green cherries and sent it to the market, not knowing how many pints of rice it trades for. Sigh.
昨日地震, 曾所未見。卽聞客說, 城中有墻塌屋壞者云. 果然耶。 Yesterday the ground shook, something I have never seen before. Right then I heard a traveller saying: “inside the city walls there are walls collapsing and houses falling .” Is it Indeed so?
尹大諫事. 轉生風浪. 不勝浩歎。災變如此. 無人念得. 只欲苟快目前。 The matter of grand master of remonstrance Yun tosses and turns our lives like wind and waves. I cannot help but sigh deeply. Disasters and catastrophes are like this. There are no people who can hope to manage it. I only wish for some happiness before my eyes right now.
此是天也. 奈何奈何? 餘波之及. 不知又在何處也 This is how the heavens are. How can we deal with it? Oh how? Reaching the lower reaches of the waves. I do not know where it is.
Student 4
Your last letter comforted me, I am barely making it and my food portions seem insufficient, tomorrow the difficulty might continue. I picked about half bucket of unripped cherries and sent it to market, I do not know how much rice I can get in exchange. Alas. Yesterday's earthquake is something I have never seen before. As I heard from the travellers, there are cases of the fences, towers and roofs collapsing and such inside the castle [Hanyang], is it indeed so? The matter of Yun's great remonstration creates turmoil in everybody's lives. I cannot help but sigh. In disaster such as this, that noone can predict and be aware of it, I only desire for the pleasure right in front of my eyes. This is indeed fate, what else can we do? The stormy wave is going everywhere and I donnot know where is the next place it is gonna reach.
Student 5
Your last letter gave me some comfort. It is hard to survive and my food portions are insufficient and tomorrow my difficulties might continue. I picked about half a bucket of unripped cherries and sent them to market, but I am not sure how much rice I can get. Oh. The earthquake yesterday was something I have never seen before. I heard from the travellers, that there are cases of the fences, towers and roofs collapsing inside the royal castle, is it indeed so? The matter of Yun's great remonstration?creates turmoil in everywhere. I can only sigh. Such disasters noone can predict and be aware of and I long just for the pleasure in front of my eyes. If such is fate, what else can we do? The stormy wave is going everywhere and I do not know where it is gonna reach next.
Student 6
To my son T‘aebo Your last letter was a consolment for me. In this [letter] I am hardly passing [my days]. I see that my way of food seems to be insufficient and for tomorrow, I will get it again and keep it with hardship. I picked up a half-ripened bucket[1] of peaches and cherries and sent it to the market, but I do not know how many bags[2] of rice I can get for it. Oh dear. There was earthquake yesterday. I have not seen that before. Now I heard some traveller saying, that within the walls of the fortress, there were walls collapsing and houses crumbling. Was that indeed how it was? The matter of Yun taegun[3], he was writhing in turmoil. I could not refrain from sighing. The disaster is like that, nobody would think that it could happen, [people] just want to have good things in front of their eyes. This is, what the fate is, what can be done? Where the consequences will reach we cannot know.
[1] 斗 [2] 升 [3] 大諫
